Leading UK vaping retailer VPZ has warned that a disposable vape ban needs to come even sooner – after the announcement of a ban that will come into force across all nations from June next year.
VPZ director Greig Fowler is fully supportive of a ban on disposables and has previously welcomed the plans, however, he has called for the ban to come into force quicker to tackle the growing problems of youth uptake and the environmental impact. He also stressed that any ban must operate alongside a licencing scheme where there are proper punishments and policing in place to enforce the ban, tackle the existing black market and ensure that it doesn’t continue to grow.
Fowler said: “We’ve predicted this major issue with disposable products for a long time and for the past two years we’ve called on the UK and Scottish governments to introduce licencing and controls for selling vaping products. From this perspective, we welcome and fully support a ban on disposable vaping products and it is positive progress that we have an enforcement date for June next year.
“However the governments have been dragging their heels on this issue for a long time, and today we have a major problem where irresponsible retailers are supplying disposables to youths throughout the country with no licensing and controls. The time to tackle this problem is now - we can’t allow this youth and environmental problem to get greater over the next seven months.”
The retailer has warned against the rise of ‘Big Puff’ disposable vapes which threaten to bring a new youth vaping epidemic and even greater damage to the environment. The imported products are exploiting a loophole in regulations to create a new and larger single-use vaping product ahead of the disposables vape ban.
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